With Guzman gone, a chance to make changes in Mexico

WASHINGTON — Will the capture of Mexican drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman result in less drugs on American streets?

That depends, says one expert.

Malcolm Beith, a reporter who wrote the book “The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World’s Most Wanted Drug Lord,” says that “as long as people in the United States are consuming drugs, people are going to supply them.”

But he calls Guzman “allegedly very smart,” and says that “without that sort of mastermind” it may be more difficult for the members of his Sinaloa cartel to elude law enforcement.

Beith forecasts more violence in the near future, as would-be successors to Guzman vie to fill the void at the top.

He says that with Guzman gone, the key to making a real dent in the drug trade is stepped-up policing, as well as social work in areas under cartel rule.